Fall has arrived

 With the arrival of fall comes new chores. As the garden is winding down, I can now add debris removal to my duty roster. The picking of vegetables has slowed down so I don't have as much processing to do. Now as some of the plants die, I find myself still quite busy in the garden removing dead plants and cleaning the area. Everyday I also learn that I could have done a better job in the garden overall. I have never looked at gardening as anything more than an edible hobby, until now. As a dairy farmer, my goal was to produce as much milk as my cows could, without using drugs as a production aid. To achieve higher production, I needed to do a better job of growing, harvesting, and processing quality feed for the cows. Now, looking back on this years garden, I realize that I should be using some of the knowledge that I have about growing a crop.Getting plants to grow isn't all that hard. Getting plants to grow and produce a larger crop will take knowing what that plant needs to get the maximum harvest. What are the plants nutritional needs? What diseases are they suseptable to? How much water and sun do they need? Before the seed goes into the ground in the spring of 2013, I will know the answers to these questions. I hope to increase my harvest without increasing the amount of labor. Do the same job better and enjoy it more. Learn to grow a garden without any chemical help. I need to learn how to control bugs using a natural repellant. These are the goals that I have set for my garden of 2013.
  Now I know that winter will not be dull, I know it will be a time of learning. The internet makes it easy to find the information so I will have no excuse for not learning what I want and need to know. It's time for me to become a gardener, not just someone who has a garden.